Community sector pushes for Government assistance

The community sector is pushing for a pay rise to help the disadvantaged

ABC local radio

The State Government is under pressure to increase funding to the community sector in light of a decision by Fair Work Australia to grant workers a pay rise.

The workplace tribunal yesterday reached an in-principle decision that about 200,000 workers in care and support roles nation-wide are being underpaid, partly because they are women.

Fair Work Australia will now consider how much the pay rise should be with unions asking for 25 per cent.

The WA Council of Social Service's Irina Cattalini says the sector faces having to pay its workers more.

She says the State Government has already indicated it will increase funding to the sector in tomorrow's budget.

"By improving the sustainability of funding for our workers in the WA sector, it means we'll be on the front foot in terms of being able to meet the increases that will come through from Fair Work Australia over the course of the rest of the year," she said.

"Hopefully the increases from the State Government will go some to all of the way to meeting that but we'll need to see the detail in both the Fair Work decision as well as the state budget before we know to what extent it's covered these increases already."